What is you favourite period, gear wise, for alex's live and studio sound?

I'm a purist, so I absolutely LOVE his sound up until Permanent Waves, Gibson into Marshall, a classic. These days I find his amps don't have much presence sound wise on stage, however the guitar sounds on Vapor Trails are lethal!

To me Vapour Trails was far better than anything they have done before.
They seem to want to always step up their music a bit. I am hoping this next recording is better than even Vapor Trails that would really be something....
while I am at it, I'll hound once again... new tour, new tour after all I want to see visuals... that again is something Rush does better than anyone else. I hope that's all new too

Some people get tired of "Tom Sawyer" too not Me one of my favorite's
I got a list I've been pondering if they were to tour. I'll have to get around to posting it in that thread._________________When evil is allowed to compete with good, evil has an emotional populist appeal that wins out unless good men & women stand as a vanguard against abuse.

The early days.... (Lerxst shredding his old Gibby ES335 during Working Man, By-tor and the Snow Dog, Anthem etc.)

The infancy of the tape loops during those performances really set the stage for rock at that time too. I was mesmerized by the richness of the sound by this ONE guitarist in a rock trio, and I was changed forever.

Alex is a pioneer, no matter HOW much other guitarists slam him for his "economy" style of playing. I read over and over in Guitar Player how other guitarists would give him negative reviews, go "Duh" and shit like that.....

WHERE ARE THOSE PEOPLE NOW??? _________________Don't start none...won't be none.

Being the headbanger that I am, it has to be the days when they were putting out AFTK and 2112 and the like.

Still, I won't trash the CDs with a different sound. I like that Rush's sound didn't stay the same but it evolved over time as they, as men, changed with experiences._________________Onward and Upward!

Joined: 17 Aug 2006Posts: 7469Location: Somewhere between the darkness and the light

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 3:23 pm Post subject:

My favorite combo was the Hiwatt stacks and the 335s around the Farewell period. Sprinkle in a little double-neck and it's "Christmas Dinner" all over again.
He also had the meanest wah sound I ever heard. It was screaming, contolled (then suddenly insane), and fatty-fat.
And didja ever hear anyone else get so much out of neck-scrapes? He'd sneak them in at the cleverest of times and they'd sound like a shrieking voice.
His finger tremolo/vibrato was much meaner in those days. Admittedly, after he started using a tremolo bar on strats, etc. he lost alot of that finger-to-fretboard discipline and power.

I'll always love 'm, but I daydream most about 1977-78._________________(((((((((((((((all'a you)))))))))))))))

These days I find his amps don't have much presence sound wise on stage,

Those amps you see on stage are only there for stage sound. If you notice, there are no mics in front of them. The sound the audience hears goes through a rack of preamps and effects and then directly into the P.A.

I agree with BBO on favorite sound era._________________Aren't you the guy who hit me in the eye?

The classic Farewell to Kings-era Lifeson tone formula is: a Gibson guitar with twin humbuckers through a BOSS Chorus into an EL-34 based British tube amp (Marshall or Hiwatt). Switch the Gibby to a Super Strat with a humbucker and Floyd, and you're pretty much covered through Moving Pictures. After that, do you really care?_________________Don't start none...won't be none.

hahahaha that's my philosophy above....if you go to the site and read the whole feature, the writer pretty much nailed him.

I agree 100%, and the writer tells (EXACTLY) how I - personally - liked him better during the "Hard Rock" phase. IMHO, the "rock" is back with VT, so I'm kinda stoked to see what the next album holds._________________Don't start none...won't be none.